Somany plans to capture 16 pc of tile market

New Delhi, Apr 11: Riding on an aggressive expansion of the housing and commercial sectors, leading tile maker Somany Ceramics Limited (SCL) has worked out plans to corner 16 per cent of the tile market by next year.

At present, Somany has a market share of 14.5 per cent in the wall and floor segments and moving up from here is a Herculean job.
"But we will do it," SCL Joint Managing Director Abhishek Somany said in an interview to UNI here.

The size of the organised tile market is slated at nearly Rs 3,000 crore wall and floor segments, but is ever growing-thanks to the rapid expansion of the housing and state- of-the art office segments.

SCL expects to jump start to a turnover of Rs 375 crore in the current fiscal from the Rs 300 crore figure in 2006-07.

The company has two manufacturing units-- Kadi in Gujarat and Kassar in Harayna.

Mr Somany said the enhanced production would emnate from the Harayna plant and additional capacities were being created in Kassar.

At present, the company has a total installed capacity of 40,000 square metres per day, which includes both the plants.

After the commencement of additional production in the Haryana plant, SCLs total capacity would touch 50,000 square metres per day.

''We have a budget of Rs 40 crore for the on-going expansion of our Haryana manufacturing unit which will start production by May-end,'' Mr Somany said.

The Kadi unit has a a capacity of 17,000 square metres per day and the one in Kassar 23,000 square metres per day.

Mr Somany disclosed that the company was expecting to get patent rights for its innovative product, VC Shield, by June this year.

VC Shield floor tiles are featured with a special coating on the surface for abrasion resistance, thus making them suitable for high traffic, which means greater movement on the floor.

He said the products would be available through its more than 800 dealers across India.

SCL is the second largest player in the domestic tile market in terms of volumes. It has 25 branch offices. SCL's produts are also exported, mostly to West Asian countries. These include the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Yemen.

Somany tiles are also exported to other countries --though in smaller quatities. These are Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh, the United Kingdom and Germany.

The enhanced production would be mostly for the domestic market, but the product would also be exported to Somany's niche markets.

UNI